#bakuhatsu silly reviews

[bakuhatsufallinlove]

Time for a lighthearted review!

By now a number of people have heard of ボクの神隠し(boku no kamikakushi), aka “My Spiriting Away” or “My Mysterious Disappearance,” aka the BL manga that Okamoto Nobuhito, voice actor of Bakugou Katsuki, was involved in. It is available to read for free in Japanese here with a total of three chapters. This post contains spoilers for the ending.

Here’s a Q&A peppered with my thoughts on it.

The Premise

Crybaby Uzuki idolizes his childhood friend Haruto who always protected him, but since they started high school, their relationship has soured, leaving Uzuki utterly alone. One day, the pair are kidnapped by a strange man and forced to participate in a mysterious game of life-or-death.

How is Okamoto involved?

Okamoto is credited for the 原案 (gen’an). A corollary industry term in English would be “original idea” or possibly “scenario.” In my experience with comics, this suggests he created the characters and premise, then wrote the concept out and submitted it to a second party to be fleshed out for full production.

The script is credited to Production Beijyu (プロダクションベイジュ), a company who offers a variety of production and promotion services with a focus on editing and proofreading books, magazines, manga, and anime.

The manga—so the artwork and all of its production—is credited to 戸真伊まい, a name I can only guess is read as Tomai Mai, which sure sounds like a pen name and doesn’t appear to be linked to any other published work. This could be for a lot of reasons; the artist might be totally new or they might have worked in other genres and chose a unique pen-name for BL, but the only thing I found attached to this name online was their Twitter account.

How’d it get made, anyway?

As far as I can tell, Okamoto must have personally reached out to Beijyu and applied for their services to help make his idea a real thing. Beijyu gear themselves towards small, independent artists and authors, especially those who haven’t debuted with a magazine or printed publication yet.

For those unaware, manga is a massive industry in Japan, and it can be extremely difficult to get your foot in the door. Many creators talk about having their concepts rejected repeatedly by magazine after magazine, or getting a single one-shot published and then struggling to keep the momentum. There’s a reason all of the huge Shounen Jump creators talk about the intense pressure to keep their work popular and to avoid getting dropped from publication by any means necessary.

Boku no Kamikakushi is available for free and I haven’t heard of any plans for a physical release. To be honest, this suggests to me that Okamoto genuinely wanted to get his story made regardless of profitability—he isn’t just a celebrity attaching his name to a series for attention. There wasn’t some industry demand or opportunity that he took advantage of for professional gain, he must have been the one to initiate this endeavor, and honestly, good for him.

Is it really bkdk?

Nah. I will grant you that the tropes at play certainly reveal Okamoto’s tastes, and we sure could extrapolate about his feelings on bkdk from those tastes. But beyond the similarities in backstory, base themes, and design aesthetic that people have pointed out, the couple have very little in common with bkdk, and in fact, the way they diverge is kind of hilariously shocking??

Okay, fine. What’s their deal, then?

Uzuki is a yandere rich boy who likes to get choked. Haruto is honestly a hapless, horny victim in all this.

What!?

Yeah. The “mastermind” behind the kidnapping is Uzuki himself, who staged the whole thing with his butler. Basically, their high school classmates tease Haruto for being associated with Uzuki, the son of the richest noble in town; Haruto resents it so he distances himself from Uzuki and rejects him. Uzuki ends up lonely with no friends and missing Haruto, so he stages his own kidnapping and puts them both in the “death game” as a way to force Haruto to remember his childhood promise to protect Uzuki as his hero.

That’s insane???

YES. IT IS ABSOLUTELY INSANE.

It’s especially funny because the parameters of the death game don’t technically require them to have sex or get intimate, Uzuki is just a fucking freak and Haruto is confused by his own horniness and goes along with it. The first trial involves a selection of drinks, one of which contains poison, and they have to keep choosing one to drink from until someone dies. Haruto ends up poisoned, and Uzuki uses his prize (“one wish”) as the winner to get the antidote and save him, of course passing it to Haruto via full-on mouth kiss.

Haruto has a gay crisis about it.

The second game: whoever raises the other person’s heart rate to 130 beats per minute first wins, and the person with the elevated heart rate dies. Haruto’s heart rate spikes from aftereffects of the poison, and Uzuki’s solution is… for Haruto to choke him… on the bed they woke up on… so his heart rate increases as well. And then he asks Haruto to kiss him, too, and they just start making out until Uzuki’s heart rate hits 130. Haruto gets upset because he lost his head and ended up dooming Uzuki, but then somehow they arrange for this death to also be nullified, and they end up continuing to play the game for three days.

Three whole days!?!

THREE DAYS! This kid traps Haruto in a dungeon so he can make him participate in weird, sadistic, horny shenanigans for three days!

And then when they finally escape and everything is revealed, Haruto is just blankly confused and has this absent look on his face, repeating that he’ll protect Uzuki. The butler says that Uzuki performed excellent mind control, but then Uzuki imprisons the butler so it can be “just the two of them.”

What the fuck, Okamoto???

Right? And you know what, it isn’t my jam at all, but can we just take a moment to recognize that a professional voice actor who is popular and prominent in the public eye wanted his weird horny BL idea to come to fruition, so he went forth into the world and made it so? And he didn’t even hide behind a pen name or anything, he wants people to associate him with it, he’s promoting it! He loves the hell out of it!

Like, I’m pretty astounded by that, and honestly I respect it. More people should just make things that cater to their own tastes without any self-consciousness about it. Wave your freak flag high, Okamoto.

[itsavgbltpta]

Should You Watch The Anime?

(Speed Run Winter 2024 Edition!)

I watch too many shows a season to really want to dig deep and review all of them, but since we're a few weeks into the Spring 2024 anime season, I figure I can give you a rundown of the Winter 2024 season!

I'm only talking about shows I finished, and maybe only a couple with sentences on my judgement and some flavor text. If you want to know more about my thoughts for a specific anime listed, let me know and maybe's I'll do a full review on it.

So, Should You Watch The Anime?

In no particular order...

Fluffy Paradise (Isekai de Mofumofu Nadende suru Tame ni Ganbattemasu)

No. It's not a bad show, but not really worth the time either - unless you just have to see a little girl petting random animals and monsters.

The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic (Chiyu Mahou no Machigatta Tsukaikata)

Yes, if you like isekai that take their time building things up. Fun premise and fun characters, though it doesn't have a conclusive ending.

Mashle season 2

Yes, though only if you watched season 1 already. Still a lot of dumb shounen fun, but now with the best OP of the year.

7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy! (Loop 7-kaime no Akuyaku Reijou wa, Moto Tekikoku de Jiyuu Kimama na Hanayome Seikatsu wo Mankitsu suru)

Yes, if you're looking for a good romance anime with interesting characters/world. I liked it so much I read all the translated light novels out so far.

Mr. Villain's Day Off (Kyuujitsu no Warumono-san)

Yes, if you're looking for a unique slice of life show. It has chill vibes most of the time, but also some heartfelt stuff. And pandas.

High Card season 2

Not really, even if you watched season 1. They added some weird twists and barely resolve character arcs.

Snack Basue

Maybe, but only if you like kuso-anime and can appreciate assholes as they converse. I laughed at this one more than I thought I would, but it ain't for everyone.

Delusional Monthly Magazine (Gekkan Mousou Kagaku)

No, but it's decent for an anime aimed at a younger audience. Just a little too silly for most of the run, so I couldn't get invested.

Bucchigiri?!

Absolutely Yes if you love dudes that kick each other's asses while feeling like they should be making out with each other instead. This was my favorite show of the season, but I also have unique tastes, lol.

Brave Bang Bravern! (Yuuki Bakuhatsu Bang Bravern)

Maybe, as long as you jive with the main protagonist and don't guess the big twist by episode 3. Guessing the twist so early kind of made the rest of the show a slog. I did want to like this one, but it was just okay in my book.

Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard (30-sai made Doutei dato Mahoutsukai ni Mareru Rashii)

Yes, if you're cool with Boys Love. Despite the absurd premise, the show conveys adult romance fairly well - and the couple actually communicates with each other!

Shangri-La Frontier (Shangri-La Frontier: Kusoge Hunter, Kamige ni Idoman to su)

Yes, especially if you're the type of person who watches Let's Plays. I am that person, so I had a lot of fun watching the progression through the game, especially with the great animation.

Metallic Rouge

No, unless you're really hard up for some sci-fi anime. I wanted to like this one, but it failed on a lot of levels.